MORE COACHES THROUGH THE LEVEL II STRAITS

30 aspiring coaches have been in Singapore on the latest ACC Level II course. From 15 of the 18 non-Test playing member countries, they have been taken through their paces by Development Officers Aminul Islam, Rumesh Ratnayake and Iqbal Sikander. “Some of these coaches are still active as players in their national teams and this course will not only help them be better coaches it will help them be better players too,” says Iqbal Sikander.

Among the batch has been Afghanistan’s ACC Twenty20 Cup winning coach Dawlat Ahmadzai, who, even though he retired after playing in ICC World Twenty20 2010, “is still good enough for international cricket” says Aminul Islam. Oman's captain Hemal Mehta and Nepal's women's captain Neera Rajopadhyaya, Yip Sze Wang and Nizakat Khan, two of Hong Kong’s most prominent cricketers, were also on the course, looking to expand their local club coaching activities. China’s women’s and men’s captains, Wang Meng and Wang Lei were also in Singapore along with lady batter Sun Mengyao.

“The challenge for us as always is how to bridge what we know with what we think the coaches need to know. All of the coaches however, from Afghanistan to Thailand have different ingredients with which to work. What is relevant for Dawlat Ahmadzai given the calibre of players he works with, and what a Level II coach from Brunei has in their country are very different. Plus, in every instance English (everybody’s second language) is understood at different levels,” says Aminul. “Nevertheless the fundamentals of cricket – skill acquisition, teaching, learning, programming and planning, game sense, communication ability are all the same and these are what the Level II coaches are hoping to master as they seek to help more cricketers,” adds Development Officer Rumesh Ratnayake who also coached Sri Lanka for two months last year.